A Norwich-based company specialising in mobile payments is seeking to raise £300,000 to fund a move from the charity sector to general transactions.

Thyngs, based in St James Mill, Whitefriars, has developed a system for proximity payments and interaction via stickers and QR code, which can be scanned by a mobile phone.

The firm, a member of the Future50 group of innovative companies in Norfolk and Suffolk, has already worked with local and national charities to make collection boxes interactive and suitable for contactless payments.

The investment round, which has already received nearly £100,000 in the first week, is aiming to rollout the technology to the wider retail industry, a market Thyngs founder Neil Garner said could be worth £300bn by 2020.

Dr Garner said: “Thyngs has spent the last year or so creating a sustainable business model for the £9.7bn UK fundraising sector, working with local, regional and national charities, allowing them to take mobile donations from almost anything, including collecting boxes, show windows and even staff.

“This new investment will help us grow the business and take advantage of a massive opportunity in the global market for mobile proximity payments, which are already commonplace in China and the East and are predicted to account for £300bn in sales by 2020.”

Thyngs has sold 250,000 units already and Dr Garner believes the move towards a cashless society is set to continue.

He said: “People are already carrying less cash, having adopted contactless payment methods, but all the predictions suggest that contactless cards will eventually give way to mobile wallet payments.

“With consumers carrying nothing but a mobile phone when they go shopping, retailers will increasingly need to find ways to engage them as they browse, and allow them to make purchases quickly and easily at the point of engagement, not just at the till.

“Thyngs makes this a reality, without requiring complex or expensive integration with point of sale systems or needing consumers to download a special mobile app.”

The firm is crowdfunding the investment through online funding platform Crowdcube.